During the mid 20th century, Sutphin Boulevard was once the hub of politics, real estate, business schools and commercial retail products. On the corner of Sutphin Boulevard and Jamaica Avenue was the Van Horen Building at 90-53. This building housed the Jamaica Democratic Club of the 11th Assembly District, Jacob Gruber and Harry Rubin attorneys, Whelan’s Drug Store and the Drake Business School. Down the block, as shown in the photograph, businesses ranged from hardware and clothing to surplus items. For half a century, until the 1970s, the common expression used any time someone needed something, was “go down to Sutphin Boulevard.” If you needed an employment agency, Sutphin Boulevard had several of them. You could get an education, a job, a typewriter and a new suit of clothes without leaving the block. By the1980s, as the demographics changed, these stores shifted to nail salons, wig and jewelry shops, record stores, fish markets and child and medical assistance agencies for the city of New York. New immigrants arriving in New Yorkfound work as street vendors, starting a new life on Sutphin Boulevard. Today, the area ishost to a whole new generation of people. (Editor’s note: The first book in a trilogy on thehistory of Queens County, titled “The New York World’s Fairs,” is now available by mail order at a price of $14.99, plus$3 first class postage. Checks should be made payable to Icon Archives P.O. Box 10, Rockville Centre, NY 11571.)
Posted on: Tue, 03 Sep 2013 14:39:22 +0000